TYPES OF NETWORKS
PROTOCOLS
NETWORK CONFIGURATIONS /TOPOLOGIES
TRANSMISSION MEDIA
By B. Vialva
 Networks
can be classified according to the
geographical area they occupy.
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LAN – Local Area Network
MAN - Metropolitan Area Network
WAN – Wide Area Network
 Confined
to a single building or site – the
hardware and communications equipment is
contained in one building or site.
 Ownership of the communications equipment
– the organization actually owns all the
communications equipment (such as wiring,
etc.) that links the terminals.

A metropolitan area network (MAN) covers a city or a
region of a city.
MANs have very high transfer speeds

MANs support
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high-speed disaster recovery systems

real-time transaction backup systems

interconnections between corporate data centers and
internet service providers, and government, business,
medicine, and education high-speed interconnections.
Almost exclusively fiber optic systems
The biggest advantage is communication with other
people and the biggest disadvantage would be
security.
MANs are very often a ring topology
 Hardware
is spread over a wide geographical
area – devices (computers, point of sale
terminals, storage, etc.). The devices spread
over multiple buildings and sites.
 Third party telecommunications equipment is
used – hardware in a WAN is situated in many
sites, which can be in different countries.
Telephone radio and satellite
communications are needed, which are
supplied by a third party. The organization
with the WAN has to rent these services from
a telecommunications supplier.
 Internet
– a huge group of networks joined
together. Each of these networks consists of
lots of smaller networks.
 The
internet and the WWW is not the same
thing.
 World Wide Web – is a means of accessing
information contained on the internet. It is
an information sharing model that is built on
top of the internet.
 The www uses HTTP(hypertext transfer
protocol), which is one of the languages used
over the internet to transmit information.
 The www makes use of browser software
used to access documents called web pages.
 INTRANET
 EXTRANET
It is a private internal network which allows
employees of an organization to access and
share information and resources.
 It uses the same technology as that used by the
internet for sending of messages across the
network.
 The concepts of client and server are used for
the computers in an intranet along with the
same protocols (HTTP, FTP and e-mail) as used
by the internet.
 The main feature of the intranet is that only
employees of the organization are able to use it.
 NOTE: it is still possible for people on an
intranet to access the internet; they are not
confined to the intranet site.

These are intranets opened to selected groups of
users outside the company such as customers,
suppliers, as well as employees of the
organization.
 It is not accessible to the general public and this
is ensured by the use of usernames and
passwords.
 Because the people who need access to the
information are not on the same site, data needs
to be sent using third party telecommunication
lines.
 Data can be sent via the internet or it can be
sent using the more expensive private
communication lines which offer more security
and performance.

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If the internet is used for the sending of the data
in an extranet, the following security measures
have to be put in place:
Gateways – is used to link together different types of
networks.
 Firewalls- hardware and/or software that work in a
network to prevent communication that is not
allowed from one network to another.
 Encryption – coding data whilst it is being sent over
a network so that only the true recipient is able to
decode it. Should the data be intercepted by a
hacker, then the data will be in a code that is totally
meaningless.
 User authentication – having to supply a valid
username with matching password.

A
set of standards or rules that allows the
transmission of data between computers (or
different devices) on a network.
 When I.T. devices are linked together they
must be able to communicate.
 Even though the hardware or the software is
not the same, the communications link
between them have to be compatible,
therefore modern computer networks set
PROTOCOLS (rules) so that data sent from
one computer can be understood by another
computer.
 Different
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types of protocols:
IP – Internet Protocol
TCP – Transmission Control Protocol
FTP – File Transfer Protocol
HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol
 Networks
can be arranged in various ways
depending on the number of computers and
how they are going to be used.
 The way the network is arranged is called
the TOPOLOGY.
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Bus/line
Star
Ring
 Have
one long cable, known as the
BACKBONE with everything else attached
along it.
 Each connection point is called a NODE.
 Every computer along the line receives each
signal sent.
 If
there is a lot of traffic or a large number
of computers, the communication can be
slow.
 It
is cheap since it does not use much
cabling.
 If there is a break between the backbone and
a computer then only that computer is
affected.
 If
there is a break in the backbone then the
whole network will stop working.
 If there is a lot of traffic or a large number
of computers, the communication can be
slow.
 The
computers are linked together by cables
in a circle.
 The data only flows in one way around the
network.
 it is suitable for a small number of computers
(15).
 It
is relatively cheap and fast.
 No file server needed.
 If
one computer breaks down the network
stops working
 Can become slow if there is a lot of traffic
 It is difficult to add or remove computers
 Each
computer has its own separate
connection to the file-server
 Faster than a bus network
 If
one cable fails, it does not affect the other
computers, meaning the network is more
fault tolerant.
 The layout makes it easy to add or remove
individual computers.
 Are
more expensive because more cabling is
required
 The
material which forms the connection
between the computers or devices in a
network. E.g. air (in the case of wireless),
metal wire, optical fiber.
 This can be wired or wireless.
 Wires add considerably to the cost of a
network, especially the cost of installing
them.
 The main forms of data transfer are:
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Metal wires
Fiber optic cables
Wireless
 Offer
a high transmission speed
 Expensive to buy and install
 Can suffer from interference / data
corruption
 There are three different types:
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Unshielded twisted pair: (telephone line)
Shielded twisted pair (cable tv)

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
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Ordinary telephone wire
Cheapest
thin wires are twisted to help cancel out interference
but it still suffers from external EM interference,
Thin wires mean easier installation,
Only suitable for small networks.
Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
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Metal braid or sheathing that reduces interference which
protects the data signals from outside
interference/corruption,
More expensive than unshielded twisted pair
Harder to handle (thick, heavy)
Greater transmission speeds than unshielded twisted
pair
Unshielded Twisted Pair cable is
currently the most popular method
of implementing an Ethernet LAN
(Local area network). It is far
easier to manipulate than coaxial
cable
 The
data being passed is encoded as pulses
of light through a very thin glass fiber.
 Bundles of fibers are used to carry the data
to and from the network.
 Speed- the data travels much faster,
 Small size – a hug amount of data can travel
in a very small cable,
 Lack of electrical interference
 Cost – the devices needed to connect the
cables and the cable itself are more
expensive
 Can be bent around corners
 The
data transfer medium is the air
 Uses radio waves
 Allows you to connect anywhere there is a
radio signal.
A
region where internet can be accessed
wirelessly using Wi-Fi.
 There are many public places where the
internet can be accessed wirelessly using a
person’s laptop or PDA.
 Wi-Fi – a trademark for the certification of
products that meet certain standards for
transmitting data over wireless networks.
 benefit
of this particular type of network is
the affordability of setting up a private
network by tunnelling through the Internet
practically free, hence being most costeffective but secure.